Page 4 - Demo

4INTRODUCTIONFairy tales were created a long time ago. They have been passed down for hundreds of years to arrive here today in a modern age of technology, colour, and new ways of presenting them. I have done many creative things including making movies but I thought it might be rewarding to take these great stories of the past and illustrate them using the technologies available today.I%u2019ve tried my best to locate original text, which often contain words rarely understood by children in this era. So, I have simplified their telling to make them easier to understand.I have created a supporting web site at: fairytales.org.ukThe site offers more information and illustrations considered but not used. You can also download free posters to print out and place on the bedroom wall of your child. I have also included cut-out colour posters in this book.I have enjoyed the process of creating this book and I wish every child could have it for free. Sadly, we do not live in such a magical world. I believe it is expensive but had I created it to be cheaper, I think it would end up as not a book that would be kept forever. Hopefully, as your child grows, one day%u2014they might read the stories and show the pictures to their own children. Or, maybe, as a grandparent, you will?Some of the stories are quite dark. I have tried not to focus too much graphically on such moments. There is not much point in reading a story at bedtime only to give a child screaming nightmares, is there? But we all like to be taken down a scary road and just when all is lost, goodness prevails.I think children like that too. It prepares them for the ups and downs of our adult existence. Is there magic in the world? I believe, despite the constant barrage of negative headline news, that there is.Mol Smith, 2024